Introduction

Prosopagnosia, also known as "face blindness", is the inability to recognise faces.

Face blindnessoften affects people from birth and is usually a problem a person has for most or all of their life.It can have a severe impact on everyday life (see below).

Many people with prosopagnosia aren't able to recognise family members, partners or friends.

They may cope by using alternative strategies to recognise people, such as remembering the way they walk, or theirhairstyle, voice orclothing.

Butthese types of compensation strategies don't always work, particularly when a person with prosopagnosia meets someone out of context, at a place or time they're not used to seeing that person.

Content supplied by the NHS Website

Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 16 Jan 2017